Singly living people and their cats: a study of human mood and subsequent behavior.

Abstract

We sought to examine how cat owners’ moods correlated with subsequent interactions with their cats. Such a relationship has not been previously documented. Data from 47 women and 49 men living alone with their cats were collected. Participants were visited at their homes for one two-hour session each. Approximately five minutes before and after the observation period, the owners filled out a standard questionnaire (EWL, list of adjectives) to indicate their current mood. The EWL allowed the authors to later assign owner moods to one or more of 14 sub-scales. In this study, results on correlates of moods at the beginning and during the subsequent first half hour of interactions are presented. Multiple regression analyses showed that related mood sub-scales, e.g. anxiety and depressiveness, can influence human behavior in different directions, and that bipolar mood sub-scales, e.g. introvertedness and extrovertedness, do not necessarily work in opposite directions. Four human behaviors were related to mood: intents to interact, starts of interactions, and approaches and vocalizations while interacting. While the start of an interaction was influenced by eight different mood sub-scales, the others mentioned were only related to four sub-scales at most. The only recorded behavior of the cat that was significantly correlated with the owner’s mood was approaches to the owner within an ongoing interaction.